On top of all that is a fantastic head sculpt, while I love Coipel’s art, I’m not a fan of the wide nose he often draws and have a particular distaste when sculptors try to capture it in three dimensions. That said, this is the best I’ve seen it done. Thor has a great face sculpt and I think it’s what ultimately sold me on the figure even though I have the Marvel Select version of this very same look.
The other thing that makes this figure an upgrade over the Marvel Select is the articulation. That figure was pretty decent, but not as loaded up as this Thor. We’ve got ball-joints at the neck (limited), shoulders, chest, wrists, hips, and ankles, swivels at the biceps and thighs, single hinge elbows, and double hinge knees. All the joints are tight and work well, but I – even after that laundry list – I still want more. I want ankles with side-to-side movement and I still want a waist swivel. Those are two articulation points that were starting to work their way into Marvel Universe and I’d like to see them included in Marvel Legends. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of great movement here, but we’re not quite where I want to be.
The paintwork was pretty good, but a spill during the photo shoot caused a few chips that you can see in some of the photos. The strap across the chest took a direct hit from the fall and some of the dark blue is showing through and the two middle discs that hang off of the upper torso have both already scratched the paint on piping on the lower torso. The paintwork itself was sharp across the board, but those two incidents left me feeling like the paint was a little more fragile than I’d like it to be.
Thor includes his trusty hammer, Mjolnir. It’s a nice piece, but I lament the loss of the classic design with the inscription. I know it’s hokey, but I liked it. The sculpt here captures the modern look and fits well into Thor’s giant mitt, but I’d like it more if it were a tad less shiny. And why not make the strap big enough to be used? I never understand why they don’t do that…
Overall, between Vault’s Hope and this Thor, Marvel Legends is looking pretty sharp on its return and that rabbit hole is all the more enticing. Take this Thor as an example, the Marvel Select version had already filled this particular hole in my collection, but the better articulation and great sculpt, particularly on the face, drew me in. As far as how many Marvel Legends I’ll buy? Well, you’ll see more reviews here at IAT, that’s for sure. Constrictor and Steve Rogers are locks. Arnim Zola is mighty tempting. A6” US Agent will be a twenty-year goal realized. And it wouldn’t hurt if Hasbro would make a Sif to go with this Thor… Yeah, there’s Marvel Legends in my future.
For more Marvel reviews, check out our Review Index.
sigh. I’ve been debating if I’ll be picking up any Marvel Legends when they make it to my neck of the woods. More of a DC reader than a Marvel one (well, until they went and 52’ed it all up). I’ll still have to wait to see the whole first wave before deciding how much I’m in, but between this review, and Vault’s review of Hope, I have a feeling I’ll likely be wanting quite a few of these guys on my shelves…
As always, thanks for a great review!
I nominate 52’d as the best use of number-as-verb since 86’d…
Seconded. That’s going in the official IAT vocabulary!
you know, my one gripe on this one over the select version is the other hand… thor should sport a fist, which the select version has… the open hand, “would you care for a cocktail sir” waiter hand is just not thor.
that said, as i’d love to wade in on these, i’m holding off till they show somewhere other than TRU. i don’t get these mark-ups on marvel products, but it’s making me mad. i do enough business at TRU every year that this is kind of a slap in the face. so i’m waiting patiently.
I actually like the open hand. It him to beckon enemies to their inevitable smiting.
Also, an open hand allows for the classic poses where he raises an open hand forward as he’s priming for a hammer throw. That plus, the other pseudo-fist is enough for me to ensure a good variety of bludgeoning poses.
I wish I’d be more on my game last night with the captions. I thought the open hand was pretty expressive, but my brain was fried (not a good way to start Review-a-Palooza).
I wasn’t even a little bit sauced from Contamination, Saturday night!
btw, found a lone IM at Sunset Hills TRU. balked, but ETC has them on pre-order, just across the River….
and I wasn’t aware this wave had any variants until I saw video reviews on youtube. Red flame GR is the only one I can see myself buying, tho.
Looks like Mattel will be getting a lot less money from me this year… They better bring something better than their A Game (on both DCU and MOTUC) cause 2012 is the year of the Epic toy battle for my Wallet and Hasbro’s boy toys division has brought their A Game… (The girl toys division caught me with MLP) and if Playmates wants to see some of MY green those Classic Turtles better not suck…
They really do need to step up in light of the return of ML. I love my DCUCs (most of ’em), but Hasbro’s making superior/compatible product is going to highlight the areas where Mattel is weak that much more.
But can some give me some damn rocker ankles? Or those new ball ankles where the ball is in the leg?! Something?
not for nothing, but lego is trying damned hard w/ their “girl’s line” to reach into your wallet too. those new lego friends set add a host of new parts and a new aesthetic to the legoverse.
Thanks for the comparison pics, especially that last one. I think this is the first time a ML figure is bigger than its MS counterpart!
No problem! Check below for a few more!
Have to go on record saying I’m not that fond of the current look of Thor (sue me. I live in the ’60s and ’70s I guess 🙂 ) but for saying that, I like that face better than the Select version.
I’m probably going to get Cap when I see him. Depending on the style I’ll bite for Fantastic Four. Give me a classic, decent sculpt for Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD and I’m in. Probably won’t happen as they seem to be pushing ‘current’ and ‘like the movie’ styling but hey, one can hope. I wager I’ll see the figures I just listed before I see The Forever People or Ram-Man from Mattel. 🙂
I like both looks for Thor. I’m still depressed I was never able to track down the Marvel Select Classic Thor from last year. I checked any Disney store I got near, but never had any luck.
Eh? Disney stores? Dang, I never even considered… we’ve got one here in town, I’ll have to take a look. Chances are slim they’ll have anything but they also seem to never mark down stock that doesn’t move so, who knows. 🙂
It’s surprisingly hard to remember Disney now owns Marvel. So when does Hasbro start cranking out Muppet figures? (I joke but wouldn’t that be sweet?)
Someone posted a link on the Buzz this morning that TRU.com had these in stock.
Checking the other lines, I saw they still have this version of MS Thor, as well.
One thing I disliked about Toy Biz’s Legends were the paint washes and the articulation that sliced up the sculpt something fierce. Hasbro’s Legends are much nicer aesthetically.
Who am I hoping shows up in later waves? To be honest, I haven’t been keeping up with Marvel comics in a while, so I’ll place a safe bet and ask for “anyone who was in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3,” particularly Nova, X-23, and Taskmaster.
I would love a Nova in particular. One of my biggest wants are two ladies that never made it into ML the first time: Hellcat & Firestar.
Which Nova, Rich or Frankie? Rich had a Hasbro ML already, in the Holocaust/”Nemesis” wave, while X-23 and Tasky were in the Toybiz Apocalypse and Legendary Riders waves, respectively, as well as more recent MU figures. I don’t see them getting ML singles any time soon, altho a team pack might happen (X-Force v4 or Avengers Initiative).
I appreciate the opening internal debate paragraphs. I keep having similar debates trying to leave the 3.75″ scale entirely, but GI Joe’s occasional awesome figure throws a wrench into my resolve.
SDCC Thor was honestly a figure that I would have passed up every other SDCC offering for, and he didn’t disappoint. As for Mjolnir’s strap, on the SDCC version you could unhook one of the straps at his waist and thread it through Mjolnir’s strap for carrying, it might still work for this one. Not the best, but it’s something. I actually can’t recall any Thor figure that could ever carry Mjolnir at the wrist, and I agree it would have been cool here.
I feel like I’m buying way too much lately, but I’m having trouble deciding where to place the cutoff. It’s a good thing that TRU sold the rest of the MLs they had… 😀
I wondered about that strap there, but I couldn’t get it to come out nicely and I was afraid I’d tear off the peg. Now that I have the review done, I may be a little more bold…
Here’s a few more pics for scale that didn’t end up in the review:
Thanks Noisy! These comparison pics are extremely helpful for me, since I tend to be a stickler for scale for my displays. I’m surprised to see he’s not that much taller than the LOA Thor, though.
Hasbro’s version of the Marvel Gods:
I never realized that Ares is smaller than Herc or Thor, and he’s the BAF!
Cap & his little friend:
this looks like an excellent figure!
The Sculpts on the new ML’s looks to be leagues and leagues above what the old ML line had if they can manage to keep them less gritty I may just be buying some…Tiny baby Adult hope to start for sure
The only of the new ML’s I am considering, He looks great but I have hated the way Hasbro has handled MU, that and most of the figs are not something I would really like.
Look like a very good start to Legends, but it is looking like many of the old Legends will not be very compatible based on that Capt/Thor pic. I only have a few left anyway, so no biggie for me. I hope they have a few more series to show at toy fair in a few weeks cause if the quality of the figures only gets better from here I think we could be on our way to some great figures. Hasbro’s original offering back in the day was pretty bad IMO but these new figures are making up for it.
Do the new ML’s have pegholes in the feet? The old Hasbro ML’s didn’t and that was annoying since some wouldn’t stand on their own.
Best Thor action figure evar? Yes. One thing that’s been really bothering me tho is the sticking it to the toy enthusiast consumer that Mattel/Hasbro has been doing. $18 retail for Thor? Any day. $18 retail for Klaw or Constrictor? You gotta be kidding me. Charging more money for significantly less product (AKA: the mysterious shrinking Extremis Iron Man) isn’t gonna keep me as a consumer. I’ll take my chances on most of these hitting the clearance bin before I shell out for an inferior product. I’ll bite for Thor and Hope Summers cuz they fit into my NECA and Marvel Select, but the rest won’t see my shelf. I know times are tough for toy companies but I sincerely encourage us as a consumer group to be more vocal about getting quality for our hard-earned cash. Isn’t that the point? They should be working hard to earn our cash? Seems like the majority of these are repaints on the smallest bucks they can find, yet charging premium (not to mention lack of accessories). If NECA can bring their A game every time for $13-15 retail, why can’t everyone else? We should accept no less. (end of rant)
Is it me? Or does Thos look a lot like Jeff Daniels here?
http://www.itsalltrue.net/reviews/mlimages/2012/thor03.JPG
(on the right)